We’re taking a screen-free ten days with our children starting tomorrow. See you in ten days!

It’s a long weekend here in Canada so we’ll be enjoying the day as a family.

We’ll be back tomorrow with another fabulous review & giveaway!

Since we’ve had a rather extended hiatus thanks to my flooded house giving us no access to our review items & press kits, I thought it might be wise to remind you of our contest information & rules.

You can get up to four additional entries in our contests, unless we state otherwise in the post.

1. You always get one entry for simply commenting.

2. Blog about the contest using one of the top three images found here. Leave a comment with the direct link to your post (not to your main page, and in a separate comment from your other entry).

3.

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

or

 Subscribe in a reader

Leave an additional comment to let us know that you did this for an extra entry. Be sure to leave a valid email address the form so we can confirm your subscription.

4. Place our button in your sidebar or add us to your blogroll. Leave an additional comment or send an additional email to let us know that you did this for your extra entry. Be sure to leave a valid url so we can confirm the addition. If we’ve been in your sidebar forever, it still counts!

For your convenience, here is the button code (also found here)

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.theopinionatedparent.com"><img src="http://www.theopinionatedparent.com/images/topbutton.jpg" alt="The Opinionated Parent" /></a>

5. Tweet about the giveaway and let us know @opinionated. Be sure to let us know you tweeted in a separate comment to get your entry.

EACH entry must leave a separate comment…one comment = one number for the random integer generator.

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Anything else you want to know? Just ask!

My basement is flooded. Everything was/is down there. Back asap. Be sure to use a feed reader so you don’t miss the awesome giveaways that are coming as soon as I can access the stuff!

Next week = Music week!

So, hi there!

It’s report card time and I’m sick (nothing of concern – just another part of my excuse…) so please pardon my absence from this here space on the interweb.

Our team members have some awesome reviews and giveaways in the wings just waiting to be written (and if they’re written they’re waiting for me to have time to edit them).

Look forward to the most beautiful Christmas cards I’ve ever seen, some VERY cool Canadian books, a DVD that every little one on your list will love…and more!

Stay tuned for T.O.P.’s very first formal book week!

We’ve got some great books to share with you this week, and they all come with giveaways ending Friday at noon.

Next week we’ll be featuring yet another T.O.P. music week – the week when we share the best of all of the music we’ve received over the past couple of months.

Tune in for reviews and giveaways galore to stock up your CD case and replace all that Wiggles crap swimming around in your head. As usual, all giveaways will end on Friday at noon so we can get everything shipped out before the weekend.

See you next week!

It really is the best country on earth.

We just don’t brag about it loudly because we don’t want everyone to move here.

And also? We make the best beer. And hockey players.

(Source: “The best country in the world to live in,” according to the United Nations Human Development Index)

Due to a family funeral (my amazingly awesome 98 year old grandmother), I’ll be without technology for a week or so. I’m going to do my best to pre-schedule as many reviews as possible, but there may be an interruption in posting. Though we’ve got a team of 20+ writers, I’m a one woman editing show so life occasionally gets in the way.

On that same note, I’ll be working full time in the fall after three and a half years at home so if posting is a little lighter at times, you’ll know why. I’ll always do my best, but blogging comes last on a LONG list of priorities. Family first and all that.

Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

Have a great weekend, and love each other!

It’s the infamous May Long here in Canada and we’re all spending it outside enjoying the gorgeous weather in our yards & local parks.

Back tomorrow with a great Canadian giveaway.

Enjoy your weekend, and every day, to the fullest!

*My husband and I sing to our children before their prayers every night and these were the new lyrics for tonight’s version of a completely made up Peter Cottontail. We only know one line and throw random crap in there to fill the rest of the time. We think we’re funny. You probably wouldn’t.

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We’re taking a four day weekend around here to enjoy the gorgeous weather and the company of those we love. We sincerely hope you are all able to do the same. If not the four days off, then at least the time with the people who make you the happiest.

We’ll be back Tuesday.

In the meantime, I’ve just got to share my slight surprise (not that I didn’t know you were awesome, but…you know…) that we didn’t get flooded with nasty comments on this post.

Honestly, I’m a little bit of a shit disturber in real life and one sentence in particular in there I just threw in to see what would happen. I tend to do that, both in writing and in real life, because I think people getting their panties in a knot is really funny. Particularly when it’s about religion and politics. What I believe (and I do) is nobody’s business and I often pretend I believe a variety of things depending on the crowd just to see how people react. Try it some time…it’s entertaining!

However, there was just one educated and friendly-but-disagreeing-comment and just one asshat comment. Shocking! Neither of them were approved as they weren’t contest entries and I didn’t want them to dilute the entries of those of you who want the prize (and good luck to you!), but colour me impressed with the open mindedness of y’all.

On that note…

Happy Easter!

We work with a lot of AMAZING companies here at T.O.P. Several hundred reputable companies every year approach us about being reviewed, are approved, ship samples to our team and ship prizes to you without delay.

Occasionally, however, there are some very untrustworthy companies who are approved for review but once they receive a positive review we never hear from them again and our readers never receive their prizes. Fortunately, out of the over 650 companies we have worked with, only two have proven to be shoddy and dishonest business people, and we’ve decided to reveal them to you so that you know we DO NOT recommend you ever trust them with your business or your money. We feel strongly that companies like this should go bankrupt and be put out of business. It’s just karma, baby.

1. Gem Gem. (It absolutely PAINS me to link over 75 000 readers a month to people like that.) Our review is found here. After repeated attempts to contact (at least 6, spread out over 6 months), she has chosen not to respond to us and has chosen not to honour her promise to ship a prize to our randomly selected winner. Gem Gem, you suck. We hope you go bankrupt. We kind of hate you, if you were worth that kind of emotion. Which you’re not. So, your business can just go die.

2. Excite Books. (Again with the pain, but you need to know who we’re talking about and then you can feel free to flame them yourself before you DON’T order anything.) Our review is found here. After repeated attempts to contact (at least 4, spread out over 2 1/2 months), he, Austin George (the founder and resident asshat) has chosen not to respond to us and has chosen not to honour his promise to ship a prize to our randomly selected winner. He also owed his publicist a lot of money and has seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth – except we know he’s not dead as he was alive to accept a certified letter. So? Just an ass. Excite Books, you suck. We hope you go bankrupt. We kind of hate you, if you were worth that kind of emotion. Which you’re not. So, your business can just go die.

There you go. That feels better. We sincerely apologize for recommending such dishonest companies. From our initial contact, we had no idea.

We know that many of you purchase from our TOP Shops regularly, and click through from our reviews to do your shopping, and we thank you for that trust.

We hope that, by filling you in on these details now, we can keep your trust and ensure you that 99.9% of the companies & business people we have ever encountered online through this venue are truly amazing, hard working & honest parents just like you and I.

We don’t like to harp on you, so we’ll just provide this quick reminder to familiarize yourself with our contest rules…and how to get three extra entries in every contest!

Over the last 2+ years, we’ve posted over 630 reviews & hosted what we think are some pretty freaking awesome giveaways of some pretty freaking awesome stuff from the web, much of it made by parents just like us.

We thank you for supporting our sponsors & the companies who offer you a chance to win their items just for taking a look at their site & making a comment, and thank you for spending a little of your daily interweb time with us.

We’ll be back on Monday, January 5th, 2009 with our daily reviews & giveaways.

Happy New Year!

We hope you’re all enjoying a wonderful, relaxing & love-filled day with your family and not reading this.

Merry Christmas!

Take but a moment.

Many gave their lives so you could have yours.

They were fathers, brothers and sons.

My own father served for over 26 years.

Hug your family. Teach your children well.

Lest we forget.

Lest We Forget

It’s with great sadness and a broken heart that I must inform you of the unexpected passing of my dad this morning while he was away on vacation with my mom.

He was the first man to love me and the first man I ever loved. I can count on my fingers & toes the number of days I didn’t talk to him and my mom in my 32 years of life. He was the kindest & most generous father, grandfather and friend to all he met and we will forever miss him to the core of our beings.

I have a few posts pre-scheduled but once they’re up there will not be more until I am able to get back into the swing of things.

If you’re waiting for your review, I’m sorry. You will be waiting a little bit longer.

If you come only for the contests, please check back daily.

No matter why you came to T.O.P. today, please go give your dad a hug or call him and tell him that you love him. If you’re a parent or grandparent, snuggle your kids today when you should be doing chores.

Spend a little extra time with those you love today, because you never know when life will end. Make memories, because you can’t get the moments back.

It’s Nie Nie Day – the day we bloggers all come together to help one of our own.

Stephanie (Nie) and Christian Nielson were in a private airplane crash last Saturday evening. Their pilot died and they both survived with very serious injuries. They are in for many hard months of recovery. Stephanie’s sister is blogging about their progress.

To help them out, Gabrielle at Design Mom is hosting Nie Nie Day today for which over 300 of us are hosting silent auctions with 100% of proceeds going to the Nielson family.

Whether you want to bid on this or any of the other 300+ auctions you can still help out with prayers, positive thoughts and you can even send a card to Stephanie & Christian. The address is:

c/o Stephanie and Christian Nielson
Mari Copa County Hospital
2601 East Roosevelt St.
Phoenix, AZ 85008

…On to the auction!

T.O.P. is offering:

TWO PREMIUM THREE MONTH AD SPOTS VALUED AT $250 EACH!

How this silent auction works:

1) Please place your bid by leaving a comment with your Bid Amount in the comments section of this post. Check the comments to see the most recent high bid.

2) Following the close of the auction, I will contact the two winners (the two top bidders) and announce them at the bottom of this post. (Make sure your comment bid includes an email address or link to your blog or some way to contact you). The winner will pay the amount of their winning bid to the Stephanie and Christian PayPal account. The winners will then forward the PayPal receipt to theopinionatedparent@gmail.com and we’ll then coordinate the launch of your ad.

3) Please bid in increments of whole dollars.

4) The auction will end at Midnight MST on Sunday, August 31, 2008.

5) The bidding starts st $10 – Thank you for participating!

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED – Congrats to Garnish!

If you have sent an email to us (other than contest entries) in the last month and have not heard back, we’re not ignoring you! We’re having some technical difficulties.
We think the problems is solved, but the emails that were in our inbox are still un-recovered.

Please resend your email if you are in doubt.

Thanks!

5 Minutes for Mom is hosting their annual Blog Party this week and we though, well, what the heck? May as well join the party!

GIVEAWAY! T.O.P. is giving away a three month ad spot to one lucky first place winner and a one month ad spot to a second place winner. We want to help you out by exposing your blog to thousands of people every day! You just have to be a blogger or a business owner to win so that you have something to advertise! The winners will be selected from everyone who leaves a comment on this post telling us a little about yourself so that we can get to know our readers a little better. Who knows? We may even choose to award some additional one week spots just to be nice! Leave your comment by Friday 3/14/08 to be eligible.

Thanks for stopping by! It’s nice to meet you!

We’re looking for one reader who employs a nanny to help us out with a review.

Please email theopinionatedparent@gmail.com with NANNY in the subject line if this interests you.

Please share…
How many hours a week your nanny works for you?
Does s/he take your kids out of the home?
Do they walk? Stroller? Drive? Both?
Live in?

Thanks!

Once in a while we are asked to review products that aren’t a great fit with any of our regular contributors. Rather than turn them down, we thought it would be nice to open up the reviews to our readership. If you’re interested in being an occasional reviewed for The Opinionated Parent, please email us at theopinionatedparent@gmail.com with REVIEWER INTEREST in the subject line and tell us:

1. Age and gender of your children/grandchildren.
2. Your blog address if you have one.
3. Why you want to be an opinionated parent.

Optional: You can also send us a writing sample in the form of a guest review of something you already own. We’ll post it on the site and also use it to evaluate your fit for our site.

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Edited to add: Wow. I had no idea so many of you would want to do this! I’ve gotten hundreds of emails and haven’t had time to respond to even half yet. I will keep everyone’s info on file and welcome guest reviews from any of you at any time. The more guest reviews you send, the better chance of me thinking of your name when I need someone. Hint hint. Thanks for the interest!

We’ve got our new addition at home now – a beautiful daughter!

We’re told we’ve got a millionaire’s family and we certainly feel just that lucky.

She was born via cesarean after a long day trying for a VBAC but all is well now. I need some extra time to recover because of the birth circumstances but hope to be back to daily reviews by the end of this week.

Thanks for continuing to check in! Our stats haven’t dropped nearly as much as I thought they would during this time and it’s great to know that you’re all still out there.

See you soon!

to go have a baby!

At 42 weeks pregnant it’s now time to intervene a little.

I’ll be having a baby sometimes in the next 48 hours one way or the other.

Fortunately or unfortunately, our hospital doesn’t offer wireless as part of their otherwise wonderful care.

I’ve got a dozen or so reviews in the wings but have opted to spend this last evening relaxing with my family instead of writing and scheduling posts for the next week.

See you soon!

That’s how I feel about the 8 guys working in my basement this week. I love that we’re going to have more usable living space soon but the drywall dust has forced us to shut down our servers and network and I hate not having internet access.

Back as soon as I can with reviews of and giveaways for all the cool stuff in my (upstairs) living room!

Keep your RSS readers tuned because I’m hoping to be able to get one or two in this week if things go my way.

It’s a long weekend here in Canada and we’ll all be celebrating Thanksgiving with our families rather than slaving away at reviews. (Kidding – it’s a labour of love.) We’ll be back from the holiday hopefully well rested and full of (totally calorie-free) gravy and pumpkin pie with reviews and giveaways galore.

Have a great weekend!

My laptop? The one that I have lived with for 2 years and which contains my entire life? It is dead.

It was a Dell, and I will never own one again. They run way too hot for regular use. The motherboard melted. I’m coming to you from very limited computer access but will be borrowing a laptop to bring you more reviews & contests starting tomorrow (and am SO thankful I married a geek god who has backed up my entire profile and everything I own to our server so I’ll have everything back as soon as I have a computer!)

Do any of you have a laptop that you love and would recommend? Hate and think I should never buy? I don’t particularly want a mac, though they’re cool. I need something compatible with my work equipment. What do you use? I’m opening the comments on this post for a few days and would welcome your input if your a laptop person!

(Note: Comments are now closed to prevent spam. Thanks for the input and the emails – Hopefully I’ll have a new baby soon! (That is, in addition to the one currently growing in my uterus.)

There’s no fortune involved, but heading in to report card season at school…

We’re looking for guest reviews from opinionated T.O.P. readers to have waiting in the wings when none of us can find the time to get a post prepared.

Email theopinionatedparent@gmail.com with GUEST REVIEW in the subject line with any questions and/or your review and any related images.

Have a favourite baby or child product that’s so great you want to share it with the world? Maybe something you think was a complete waste of money? A favourite parenting website? A great service for parents? A company who’s service has been less than impressive? Tell our fabulous readers about it!

Be sure to include your blog link if you have one so that we can give you the proper credit!

Due to technical issues (that’s what I call it when I screw up) and lack of time to fix them, our review for Thursday will be late.

How late? I have no idea! Some time after bedtime when my teacher homework is done and and we get a spare few minutes to try and pull it out of cyberspace…

It was completely done (and it has a giveaway – yay!) so I’m hoping to be able to recover it and not re-type the whole thing. We’re working on over dozens of great reviews for you right now, most with giveaways, so thanks for your patience as I learn how to be a work outside the home mom and still have some time for my favourite website! It’s not easy so hats off to all of you who make the best of it. I can’t wait to be on maternity leave again with baby #2 at Christmas!

Tomorrow’s the big day when we take possession of our new home and the ten days are filled with packing, moving, unpacking and trying to get everything hooked up at the new place while we get the old place cleaned for it’s new owners. There will be a few days when I’m without internet and you’ll be entertained by some fabulous T.O.P. readers as guest reviewers.

We’re still looking for a few more opinionated people who want to share their opinions with thousands of parents/PR folk/corporate flunkies/magazine editors and more every day.

If you’d like to tell the world about your favourite or least favourite parent/child item, service or website, please email your review to theopinionatedparent@gmail.com with Guest Review in the subject line.

(By the way, we’ll always accept your guest reviews – not just when we’re moving!)

Submissions will be edited for grammar and to ensure they fit the style of this site, but the base content will not be changed. If you’re a blogger, please provide your link so that we can give you credit and let us know the name you’d like us to use. You can send your review in a .txt file or a .doc file. You can send HTML or just text, and feel free to include suggested images to accompany your post. Your review can be cross posted at another site and does not have to be new, but must be your original writing.

Questions? Submissions? Comments? You know where to find me!

email Nicole
Founder & Senior Editor

Giveaway coming soon! Hopefully later today…

We just sold our house just a few hours after listing it (and spending a week working into the wee hours getting it ready to list) and have started home shopping in addition to working full time, packing and, oh yeah, raising kids & caring for pets. It’s a little crazy, so forgive us if we’re behind on prize draws and posting but we’re doing our best and have lots of great product reviews & giveaways in the wings waiting for a few free minutes to write about them.

Thanks for understanding and for being the best readers in the blogosphere!
Happy Internet Shopping!

After a weekend of relaxation and celebration of all that is motherhood,
The Opinionated Parents are back for a week of fun!

This week we’re highlighting games, toys & activities for the non-newborn set.

Come back daily – multiple times if you’re so inclined – for some great features & contests.

We hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day!

Have you noticed, just over there to your right, the newest Baby Dagny ad?

It looks like this. It’s one you’ll definitely want to click on ~ especially if you or someone you know is pregnant.

Click through to their baby registry page from the image in the sidebar.

Once you register & email your registry to your friends & family, you get a free gift (the purple frog plush pacifier we’ve reviewed. It’s awesome!)

In addition to that, you’ll also receive a gift certificate for 10% of all gift that are purchased from your registry.

And all just for making sure you don’t get a whole bunch of those useless newborn personal care sets.

Almost makes me want to get pregnant.

Almost.

When and if I do get pregnant again, you can bet I’ll be registered at Baby Dagny.

(I want that purple frog!)

We’re on a four day weekend here and will be taking a few days off from posting.

Whatever you’re celebrating this weekend, enjoy the time with your families. We sure will.

(and one of us is currently having a baby!)

(Update: Congratulations to contributing writer and TOP web guru Raechelle ~ Baby Ethan was born on Good Friday at 5:45 pm!)

The Opinionated Parent is entered in a competition to get paid to write full time for a year.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it (and I know you will), is to head to this page (or click on either of the images in this post) and click on the blue link on the right hand side that says VOTE FOR THE OPINIONATED PARENT.

In fact, I’m going to ask you to vote once every single day, just because I’m pushy like that.

The Opinionated Parent works with many publicists to bring you the great products you read about here every day.

One of those publicists, Kristina Junger-Godfrey, has a new baby boy in her family! Tyler James Godfrey was born on March 7 at 7 lbs 11 oz and 19.5 inches.

I’ve already expressed our collective jealousy to Kristina over how amazing she looks.

Congratulations to Kristina and her beautiful family from all of the Opinionated Parents everywhere!

We consider ourselves very lucky to be able to share our great finds
with our amazingly loyal & intelligent readers.
We have a crazy kind of symbiotic relationship with businesses and parents that benefits everyone!

Check out what some of our partners in shopping have to say about our site

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I have never seen a response to one of our reviews or giveaways as strong as yours – Girl, you are doing something right over there. I’m spreading the word about your site.

Thank you again – make sure to let us know if we can do ANYTHING else for you.

Mindee Doney, Boogie Wipes

We are so pleased here at When I Grow Up for such a great review! It is obvious time was taken not just to review our products but also our website and what our company stands for. We’ve had an immediate, amazing amount of hits and sales since your post and for that we are grateful. Reading the comments from your readers has been rewarding and very appreciated. We will certainly share your site with friends and family alike. Wishing you continued success in what you do for parents and families!

Kat Henderson, When I Grow Up

We would like to thank Nicole for the amazing review of our products. The exposure you have given to our website has been tremendous! You have been a gem to work with…. keep it up!!

Jenn Kenefick, A Family Affair

I can not thank you enough for all the wonderful words you have said in regards to Taia hair clips. Your review has brought in the most traffic and interest into my website out of all the reviews that have been posted. Thanks again and know how much I really appreciate all of the amazing exposure you have brought to my brand new collection! Warm Regards, jenxo

Jen Pezolla, Taia Hair Clips

first, from the whole oscat family, i’d like to say congrats on your new
baby daughter. hope all is well with your whole family.

i really want to thank you again for your review of mr.oscat says…… i
still get a lot of hits on my webpage from the link from yours. how cool
is that?

so, just wanted to touch base with you to let you know that we still
appreciate what you did for us. we don’t forget those that take care of
us…..

and, as always, thank you for what you do.

your friend from california – olen taylor

Olen Taylor – Mr. Oscat

I don’t think I’ve ever sufficiently thanked you for the wonderful review, your site obviously has great traffic and you must have links everywhere where we’d like you to have them. Thanks for more than spreading the word on our line. We owe you!

Sara Lubbers, Maggie’s Rose

We’ve now had two reviews on our product line by The Opinionated Parent and we have loved each one. They are unique with a touch of humor, which is just the way we like it! Thank you for taking the time to put your own spin on georgie tees rather than simply restating info you could have pulled from our press releases. Plus we love the increase in traffic The Opinionated Parent helps bring to our site. Thanks for doing such a fabulous job and providing such a great resource!

Emily, georgie tees

I just wanted to express my thanks again for the wonderful review that you did on the “Grippy Clippy”. As a Canadian mompreneur, one of my goals was to try to branch out into the US market. A believe that your review is assisting me in that goal, as I have had several US orders since the review. Thanks again. Keep up the great work!

Janet Beatty, Sugar & Spice Bows & The Grippy Clippy

I really liked the write up you did on us. It is the best written review we have ever had. I can tell why your site is doing well.
Patricia Moffit, 2 Funky Mums

The review is wonderful! Thank you so much! I have other reviews, but most have been cut directly from my press release. Your review is interesting, original and would make me want to check out my own site. Thanks a million!
Jennifer Talbot, b. delicious

I just wanted to say thanks for all of the fabulous product reviews. We all enjoyed and appreciated each one. Also, you have been so good to work with. Thanks for sending all the links my way and helping me stay organized. You’re a gem Nicole – thanks so very much for everything.
Christine Miller, JJ Cole USA

We recently had one of our most popular products reviewed by the Opinionated Parent weblog. We were very pleased not only with the process but with the results. Our site hits increased by 30% during and after our review. Not only did this increase in traffic result in multiple sales, it also provided us with the opportunity to find out from readers what piqued their curiosity. This feedback has been extremely valuable and we are thrilled that we were able to showcase not only specific products but our store on an obviously useful, high-traffic, quality blog which caters to our target market.
Kirsten @ Fantaztic Learning

I just read what may be the most flattering, thorough and well-written review of liliputians NYC to date on a web site called The Opinionated Parent … Their reviews are 100% honest, objective, and are simply the opinions of one or more Opinionated Parents. There is no compensation for reviews so you can expect unbiased and opinionated critiques which is all the more reason we’re so excited by this opinionated review.
Heather Flottman, designer and owner, from the Liliputians NYC blog

…I also wanted to thank you once again for your review. I received more orders that usual the week you did the review and website traffic has increased. I really appreciate it!
Jacquie @ The Baby Buddy

Thank you so much for a great review for DreamGYM products. It was so nice of you not only to tell about the products you actually tried but also to describe the whole concept of having an indoor jungle gym at home. Reading the comments made me proud of my products. Also the comments were very useful from marketing research stand point: to learn what people like the most and why. We got a lot of visitors to our website; even now it was over two weeks since the review we still receives hits from the Opinionated Parent. We will definitely do another review with you.
Marina Mironov, owner, KidsDreamGYM.com

If you have been reviewed at The Opinionated Parent…
Did you experience a surge in traffic?
More orders than usual?
Did we put a smile on your face?

Tell us! We really do want to know!